News

LAS

In February, the Louisiana Archaeological Society (LAS) held its 2018 annual meeting in Metairie, Louisiana to celebrate the 300 year anniversary of the founding of New Orleans, and R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates was proud to join in this celebration of our hometown. On the first night of the conference, Goodwin & Associates sponsored a reception for all attendees, while on the second day Nathanael Heller, Senior Project Manager at RCG&A and a lifelong resident of New Orleans, served as program chair for a slate of 22 presentations examining the archeology of Louisiana. The program included special sessions on Poverty Point World Heritage Site, and on recent archeological investigations in New Orleans. The program also included a presentation by Ryan Hale of RCG&A on his research examining the impact of coastal erosion on the prehistoric Adams Bay site in Plaquemines Parish. In addition to the formal conference events, the LAS meeting was a great opportunity to celebrate New Orleans and catch up with old friends.

AIA

On April 19, 2018, Nathanael Heller, Senior Project Manager and Lab Supervisor for the New Orleans office, delivered a presentation to the New Orleans Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) titled “Archaeological Investigations of a Former Yellow Fever Hospital in New Orleans.” The talk highlighted an important discovery of medical artifacts and other materials from a temporary hospital set up to treat indigent yellow fever patients in 1897. A team from Goodwin & Associates led by Nathanael made this discovery last summer during archeological excavations associated with the renovation of a historic school building that was damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Included among the finds Nathanael discussed were bedpans, invalid feeders, wash basins, pitchers, medicine bottles, part of a hypodermic syringe and other items for the care of yellow fever patients. Also described were pieces of colorful glass flower vases, dolls, an ivory chess piece, and other artifacts that represented ways the hospital staff worked to keep patients in good spirits while they recovered from their illnesses. The site has provided an almost unprecedented opportunity to examine 19th century medical practices used to combat yellow fever.

David J. Berteau Becomes Assistant Secretary of Defense for Logistics and Materiel Readiness,

Departs Goodwin Board of Directors

On December 16, 2014 the United States Senate confirmed David J. Berteau as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Logistics and Materiel Readiness. That appointment became effective on January 6, 2015, which also was the effective date of Mr. Berteau’s resignation from our Board. In his letter, Mr. Berteau wrote “It has been an honor and a privilege to have been a member of the Board for nearly 15 years.” He formerly served as Senior Vice President and Director of the National Security Program on Industry and Resources at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a position he held since 2013. Previously at CSIS, he was Senior Vice President and Director of the International Security Program from 2011 to 2013, and he was Senior Adviser and Director of the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group from 2008 to 2011. In 2008, while at CSIS, Mr. Berteau was the Chair of the Resources Working Group for the Project on National Security Reform. From 2003 to 2008, he served as a Director at Clark & Weinstock, and from 2001 to 2003 he directed the National Security Studies Program at Syracuse University. From 1997 to 2001, Mr. Berteau was a Senior Vice President at SAIC, and from 1993 to 1997, he was the company’s Corporate Vice President of Business Development. In 1993, he served as the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Production and Logistics, and from 1992 to 1993 he was the Chairman for the Defense Conversion Commission. From 1990 to 1993, he was the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Production & Logistics, and in 1989 he served as Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Management and Personnel. Mr. Berteau was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Resource Management & Support from 1986 to 1989, and he served in several roles at the Department of Defense from 1981 to 1986. Mr. Berteau received a B.A. from Tulane University and an M.P.A. from University of Texas at Austin. In 2013, Mr. Berteau received the Distinguished Public Service Award from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. He also served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and at the LBJ School at the University of Texas. Congratulations David! We are proud of your service to our Nation!

Louisiana Archaeologist of the Year

On April 22, 2014, Jay Dardenne, Lt. Governor of the state of Louisiana, and the Louisiana Office of Cultural Development (OCD) named R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. “Archaeologist of the Year” at the annual Louisiana Culture Awards. The Louisiana Culture Awards recognize efforts to highlight and cultivate the rich cultural resources of Louisiana. R. Christopher Goodwin, Ph.D., President and CEO, accepted the award on behalf of the company.

The state recognized R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. for their outstanding contribution to the archaeological understanding of Louisiana material culture through implementation of measures intended to partially fulfill the stipulations of a 2011 programmatic agreement to mitigate the effects of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). As a group, these mitigation measures represent one of the largest single-project contributions to Louisiana archeology. The project included both new work and the reexamination of old work, and comprehensive integration of both previous and current studies in a period not to exceed 24 months. Archeological treatment measures included: (1) analysis of eleven archeological collections that had never been previously examined or that were not analyzed using modern methods; (2) survey and evaluation of Fontainebleau State Park and New Orleans’ City Park; and (3) research on 204 parks around the city of New Orleans and archeological survey of thirty parks. Additionally, the project required survey of seven National Register Historic Districts in New Orleans; scanning of up to 150,000 National Register and Standing Structure documents; and, the filling of a dedicated liaison between the Louisiana State Historic Preservation Office and FEMA to ensure timely preparation of digital deliverables. This project will result in written and digital media public outreach programs.

R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. served as the archeological and historic preservation contractor for the larger Dewberry Team for implementation of the mitigation efforts. Dewberry is a leading professional services firm with a proven history of providing architecture, engineering, and management and consulting services to a wide variety of public- and private-sector clients. The Dewberry Team also included Vissering Pardue and Associates, now Vissering Consulting Group, Inc., a nationally recognized provider of technical consulting services to governmental and private clients in the areas of environmental and historic preservation compliance, hazard mitigation planning and programs, and disaster program support.

R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. featured in Professional Surveyor Magazine for work at White Sands, New Mexico and in Lake Pontchartrain

Dr. Goodwin Co-authors Article on Wind Energy and Transmission System Development on the Continental Shelf

In the Fall issue of North American Wind Power, Dr. Goodwin co-authored an article on permitting and development challenges for subsea cabling and backbone transmission lines that will connect wind-turbine generated power to onshore grids. The article was co-authored with Daron Threet, Esq., an energy attorney and partner with the prestigious firm Holland & Knight in Washington, D.C. The article reviews the regulatory framework for the development of offshore cable arrays, issues pertaining to marine archeological survey requirements, the need for active consultation with regulatory agencies and other stakeholders, and the need for careful project planning and site evaluation.

Goodwin Staff In the News, In Print, and In the Public Forum

Scott Johnson, Project Archaeologist, Publishes New Book Focused on the Rise and Fall of Ancient Civilizations

Editor and project archaeologist with R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc., recently has published a book that looks at the rise and fall of large-scale, complex societies throughout the ancient world. Why Did Ancient Civilizations Fail? will be out in October; a full description can be found at www.Routledge.com. Scott argues that hubris blinded many ancient societies to the effects of changing environments, declining agricultural systems, disrupted trade, failing social organization, and unmitigated catastrophes. Scott received the Ph.D. in anthropology from Tulane University in 2012.

Goodwin Team Provides New Data on Climatic Change and Human Adaptation at the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition

Dr. Chris Goodwin and Dr. Bill Barse presented a poster on the results of excavations at five Late Paleoindian (Suwannee) and Early Archaic (Bolen) stratified archeological sites located in the Florida panhandle in the Paleoindians of the American Southeast poster session held at the Paleoamerican Odyssey Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. These sites share consistent features of stratigraphy and archeological context reflecting a landform subjected to the same climatically induced depositional processes at the close of the Pleistocene. Those processes encapsulated Paleoindian and Early Archaic sites along the edge of the Cody Scarp below variably thick packages of eolian sand deposits. Technological, microwear, and blood residue analyses were used to study approximately 27,000 lithic artifacts. The largest site, Site 8LE2105, functioned as a base camp. The four smaller sites (8LE2102, 8JE880/LE2909, 8JE872, and 8JE878) were utilized for hunting and resource extraction. These five sites offered an opportunity to explore patterns of settlement, subsistence, and technological change at the Pleistocene – Holocene transition.

As a result of these investigations, RCG&A obtained a new 14C date [11,273 cal BP (9870±38 14C)] on a Bolen component at Site 8LE2105, one of three Early Archaic Bolen sites radiometrically dated in Florida. Bolen is the first radiometrically dated cultural horizon post-Clovis in Florida. Blood residue analyses showed butchering of bear and bison at 8LE2105. The presence of end thinning flake removals on Bolen projectile point preforms (i.e., fluted preforms) showed technological continuity in biface reduction from Clovis to Suwannee to Bolen. Continuity in the trajectory of biface reduction from Clovis to Bolen disappeared from the archeological sequence when notched forms were replaced by stemmed forms in the Middle Archaic.

Jill Adams Named to Millsaps College Sports Hall of Fame

Jill Adams, Historic Preservation Specialist in RCG&A’s New Orleans Office, has been named to the Millsaps College Sports Hall of Fame. A 2003 graduate, Jill was a four-year volleyball standout, a two-time All-Conference player, and academic honor roll recipient. She holds a top-10 standing in service aces, and aces per game. She served as Team Captain during her Junior and Senior years. Jill received her Masters in Preservation Studies from Tulane University in 2008, and she brings the same level of intensity and enthusiasm that garnered this award to her work in historic preservation. Congratulations Jill!

Martha Williams Receives Outstanding Professional Archeologist Award

Our own Martha Williams, M.A., M.Ed., who joined the Goodwin team in September 1989, received another prestigious award on October 25, 2011, when Martha was named Outstanding Professional Archeologist by the City of Alexandria, Virginia. In addition to a trophy showing a stratified archeological deposit, the award reads:

WHEREAS, a 2011 Brenman Award for Outstanding Professional Archeologist is presented to Martha Williams in recognition of her nearly 40 years of outstanding teaching, historic research, and archeological investigations in and near Alexandria, for her excellence in completing numerous investigations and reports in her career as archeologist with R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc., for writing several superb histories of Alexandria and Fairfax County, and, while most places about which she has written are now redeveloped, for her archeological work and written materials that allow past incarnations to live on for the community.

The Award was presented by William D. Euille, Mayor, on behalf of the City.

Martha also has been named Professional Archeologist of the Year by the Archeological Society of Virginia, and she received the Award of Merit from the Society for Historical Archeology (SHA) for her efforts in the field of public education in archeology and for bringing the concept of public education into the SHA.

Kate Kuranda, Senior Vice President for Architectural & Historical Services at R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc., is the author of Chapter 1 of the new book A Companion to Cultural Resource Management (Wiley-Blackwell 2011), edited by Thomas F. King. Kate’s chapter, entitled “Studying and Evaluating the Built Environment,” examines the process of assessing the built environment from an expert architectural historian’s point of view. The chapter encourages “thoughtful and responsible professional practice,” and provides a framework for documenting and evaluating architectural properties. This chapter should be a “must read” for architectural historians in training, for students, and for those seeking to understand the rationale for and the structure of proper cultural resource practice in the built environment. The book, which also offers important perspectives on archeological sites, cultural landscapes, shipwrecks, and other classes of cultural resources, can be ordered online by clicking the link below.

Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) are a highlight of school curricula all over the United States. Thurmont Elementary School, in northern Frederick County, Maryland, recently hosted a STEM night, and R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. (RCG&A) participated in the event teaching the students about archeology. Kathy and Colby Child, two project managers at RCG&A with a combined 50+ years of experience in archeology, also have years of experience providing exposure to archeology for Frederick County Public Schools and the Boy Scouts of America.

Students are given basic instruction on what archeology is and why it is important, including stratigraphy and the methodical excavation of soil by layers and artifacts. Either individually or in small groups, the students excavate using trowels, brushes and dust pans. As they recover artifacts, they sort them into groups based on the layer from which they were excavated.

The goals are to expose them to the fundamental practice of archeology and to provide the chance to interpret the material they recover. In the end, they need to explain the “story” of their “site” based on the artifacts recovered and the layers in which they were found. Some of the stories are very colorful, while others are highly plausible. The story told by the artifacts and familiarization with the archeological process sets the students up for lessons in their science or social studies classes. STEM also suggests future possibilities in high school, college and beyond. On occasion, RCG&A gets to rekindle these relationships when a former STEM student applies for an internship or employment.

Papers/Poster Presented:

Nathanael Heller

Archaeological Investigations of a Former Yellow Fever Hospital in New Orleans. Paper presented April 19, 2018 to the New Orleans Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Results of the 1975 LSUMNS Excavations at the Bayou Jasmine Site, 16SJB2. Paper presented February 11, 2017 at the 43st annual meetings of the Louisiana Archaeological Society, Marksville, Louisiana.

Nathanael Heller

Recognizing Cultural Complexity and Innovation in the Everyday Life of the Tchefuncte Peoples of South Louisiana. Co-authored with Richard Weinstein. Paper presented Nov. 19, 2015 at the 72nd annual meetings of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Nashville, TN.

Nathanael Heller

Rethinking the Early Woodland Occupation of the Louisiana Coastal Zone. Paper presented on May 27, 2015 to the Baton Rouge Chapter of the Louisiana Archaeological Society, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Nathanael Heller

A Fresh Look at the 1941 WPA Excavations at the Lafayette Mounds Site (16SM17), and the Date of Lafayette Mound 1. Paper presented February 21, 2015 at the 41st annual meetings of the Louisiana Archaeological Society, Leesville, Louisiana.

Nathanael Heller

Rethinking the Early Woodland Period Occupation of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin. Paper presented February 8, 2014 at the 40th annual meetings of the Louisiana Archaeological Society, Natchitoches, Louisiana.

R. Christopher Goodwin, and William P. Barse

2014 From Biscayne Bay to the Cody Scarp: The Early Archaic Bolen Horizon in Florida. Paper presented at the 71st Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference, Greenville, South Carolina.

R. Christopher Goodwin, and William P. Barse

2014 Technological Organization at Site 8LE2105: Human Response to Late Pleistocene Environmental Change in Northern Florida. Paper presented at the 79st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Austin, Texas.

Advancement

Dr. Shannon R. Ryan has been promoted to Senior Project Manager in the Great Plains office in Lawrence, Kansas. She was hired by R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. as an Assistant Project Manager in August 2006 and since October 2009 has served as a Project Manager. She has 16 years of archeological experience in the Great Plains and has worked extensively in all phases of archeological investigation in cultural resources management and academia. A native of Salina, Kansas, Dr. Ryan received her B.A. in History from Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana and an M.A. in Anthropology from The University of Kansas. She successfully defended her dissertation on April 12, 2016 and, in May 2016, will graduate with a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Kansas. Her dissertation, entitled “Recognizing Paleoindian Hideworking Activity Areas on the Great Plains” explores how archeologists can identify and interpret Paleoindian hideworking activity areas using two early sites from the Great Plains as examples. Dr. Ryan has extensive experience in archeological survey, excavation, analysis, and reporting throughout the Great Plains. She has directed cultural resource surveys and evaluations in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Oklahoma.

Dr. John Taylor-Montoya has been promoted to Senior Project Manager in the Southwest office in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He has over 13 years of archeological field experience in the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, and Southwest, and he has worked extensively in all phases of investigation within both the cultural resources management and academic spheres. A native of New Mexico, Dr. Taylor-Montoya was conferred the Ph.D. in Anthropology from Southern Methodist University, the M.A. in Anthropology from The University of Oklahoma, and the B.S. in Anthropology from The University of New Mexico. His dissertation research entailed a diachronic analysis of over 2,000 Paleo-Indian artifacts from more than 300 sites and isolated occurrences in the Southern Plains region. Dr. Taylor-Montoya has extensive experience in archeological survey, excavation, and analysis at sites in a wide range of settings, including rockshelters, Puebloan villages, high-altitude open air sites, dune fields, bison bonebeds, and lithic workshops.

Kirsten Peeler, M.S., has been promoted to Senior Project Manager in the Architectural & Historical Services Division. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College, Ms. Peeler received an M.S. in Historic Preservation from Columbia University in 1996. She has served as a project manager at R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc. for the past 11 years. Ms. Peeler has directed projects for public and private-sector clients ranging from architectural surveys and resource evaluations, to cultural resource planning documents, to public outreach programs. Noteworthy among her recently completed projects are the development of an interactive website for Fort Belvoir, Virginia, on the history and development of the new Community Hospital site and the development of an historic context and comprehensive architectural survey of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Janice McLean, M.A., has been promoted to Senior Project Manager. Ms. McLean has directed operations in our Plains office for the past seven years. A recipient of the B.A. and M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Kansas, Ms. McLean recently has directed cultural resource surveys and evaluations for pipeline projects in North Dakota, Iowa and Oklahoma, and wind energy projects in the southern Plains She also completed evaluations of cultural resources at Fort Riley, Kansas, including Camp Funston, and Fort Sill, Oklahoma.